What Ronald Reagan Said About Social Security That The GOP Still Doesn’t Understand (VIDEO)

Conservatives just love Ronald Reagan. Never mind that he raised taxes more than any other President, never mind that he stood for banning assault weapons, and never mind that his foreign policy saw hundreds dead in Beirut and elsewhere at our embassies, to them Saint Ronnie could do no wrong.

This video tells the tale of cutting social security as a way to decrease the deficit, somethings Republicans are wildly in favor of. They call it an entitlement, as though retirees and those qualifying for disability hadn’t paid into it their entire lives.

As Reagan notes, cutting social security does nothing for the deficit. By law, any “savings” by reducing payments don’t go into the general fund, they go into the social security trust fund.

In theory Reagan’s argument is true. Unfortunately, with the passage of the Social Security Amendments of 1983, Reagan began hijacking funds for the cold war, tax cuts and other programs to make up for the failures of supply-side economics.

The statement itself remains true. While Reagan and his pal Alan Greenspan figured out how to heist money from the trust fund, reductions in payments to the insured do nothing for the deficit. The money would go into the trust fund, where it would be available, under the 1983 legislation, to be stolen from the American people.